Willie B's Deli opens in East Islip with barbecue pop-up

Willie B is back. A fixture on the local barbecue front from 2003 to 2014, Will Breakstone has taken over an East Islip deli where he also mounts regular barbecue pop-ups. The next one is on Friday, from 5 to 9 p.m.

There was a time when you couldn’t cover barbecue on Long Island without writing about Breakstone. The decorated pitmaster triumphed at local cook-offs such as Battle of the BBQ Brethren and Long Island Grill Kings, ran an eponymous competition, WilliePallooza, from 2008 to 2013 and set up shop at Lily Flanagans in Islip and South Shore BBQ Co. in Patchogue. But after he left that last gig, it was radio silence. Or was it?

“Willie B’s never went away,” he said. “I’ve never stopped smoking for friends and doing private catering.”

Breakstone’s day job is as a financial adviser, but he was tempted back into public service when a friend suggested they take over the storefront that had been, until recently, the East Islip Gourmet Deli.

“It was doing good business on its own,” he said. “I was already renting a commercial kitchen for catering jobs. This was much closer to where I live and it just all came together.”

The regular menu encompasses everything you’d expect from a deli: sandwiches, wraps, heros and panini; eggs every which way; burgers and cheesesteaks. All salads are homemade and Breakstone is proud of his Nashville hot chicken sandwiches ($12.47), made with buttermilk-hot sauce-brined thighs.

But it’s the barbecue you’re coming here for. Pork shoulders and briskets are smoked, the former pulled and sauced, the latter sliced into thick slabs for sandwiches ($16.63). Breakstone uses briskets for his own house-brined corned beef, but pastrami is made, according to kosher deli tradition, with beef navels that have been first brined and then smoked. You’ll not find a better pastrami sandwich ($19.75, for 12 ounces of meat) on Long Island.

His roster of breakfast sandwiches ($7.79 to $13.51) integrate smoked meats — corned beef or pastrami hash with eggs, brisket or pulled pork or local kielbasa with eggs, or the aptly named I’m Really Hungry, Man which features eggs plus all four meats, plus cheese. Also for the breakfast-minded, Breakstone has long made his own thick-cut bacon and you can buy it by the pound ($12.50) or request it on a sandwich (or platter) instead of regular bacon ($2 to $4 depending on the dish).

Still, there’s only so much barbecue that a deli can handle and so, every few weeks, Willie B’s becomes an after-hours (5 to 9 p.m.) barbecue pop-up. This Friday’s menu includes platters of St. Louis ribs, pulled pork or chicken, brisket, burnt ends and smoked chicken ($14.95 to $23.95). The last pop-up, on April 26, sold out before closing time, so you might want to call in your order ahead of time.

Willie B's Deli, 85 E. Main St., East Islip, 631-650-9124. Deli hours are Open 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily